In the case of game machines, all users can play games with the same game quality in the same game program because it is assumed that users have hardware with the same processing capability.
However, when a game program is read into a general-purpose computer system for use, the image processing speed is often controlled by the capability of the computer system, and the same game program cannot be played with the same game quality.
As a result, in the past, when the capability of the computer system did not have the operating environment expected by the game program, the game was continued, for example, while the image quality was preserved and the character operating speed or the speed at which the game advanced fell off, or conversely there was a drop in image quality, with emphasis placed on preserving the game qualities. Here, "game qualities" usually means the sense of game speed as well as the quality, characteristics, and the like involved in executing the game, such as the corresponding level of difficulty.
In the past, however, when the main processing unit of a computer system could not sustain the operating environment expected by the game program, the game was executed with the game qualities in a special state determined by the manufacturer. As a result, the user had to play the game based on these determined game qualities, and the game qualities could not be set to one's satisfaction.
In the case of conventional units, the user could know that the main processing unit lacked the capabilities because of the special game qualities that resulted when the main processing unit could not provide the operating environment expected by the game program. However, in the past it was not possible to objectively determine the extent of the insufficiency in capability between the operating environment required by the program and the current operating environment, and the game qualities had to be set to a standard special level.
An object of the present invention is to resolve the drawbacks of the prior art described above so as to provide an image processing apparatus capable of displaying guidance when the capability of a computer system is different from the operating environment expected by the application program.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of setting the operating environment of the application program.